Category Archives: Green Driving

In around three years from now, expect to see Nissan vehicles on the market fueled by hydrogen. Only, these Nissan vehicles will differ greatly from the current hydrogen fuel-cell models offered by competitors. And that difference is ethanol.

There are vehicles on the road now that use ethanol as a fuel. But the upcoming hydrogen-powered Nissan vehicles will use the ethanol as a hydrogen source, converting the ethanol to hydrogen and then using that to generate electricity.

This approach offers a number of benefits that current hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles don’t have. The first benefit is that Nissan vehicles won’t have giant hydrogen tanks because they won’t have to store hydrogen (only ethanol). This has been a struggle for other automakers, forcing them to compromise cabin space. The second benefit is that Nissan vehicles won’t need hydrogen filling stations. An ethanol infastructure is already in place.

The range of the upcoming hydrogen-powered Nissan vehicles will be around 500 miles. We look forward to driving these eco-friendly cars!

Nissan acted as the official global sponsor of the Union of European Football Association Championship League final, which took place from May 26th-28th. As an official sponsor, Nissan supplied the event with over a hundred electric vehicles for transporting guests and officials during the tournament. Nissan EVs at the UEFA final included Nissan LEAFs and e-NV2000s.

2016 Nissan LEAF

The UEFA final took place in Milan, where Nissan is partnering with the clean energy company A2A to sponsor the installation of 17 public electric vehicle chargers, most of which will remain free after the UEFA final.

Nissan was given the honor of transporting the UEFA trophy to the Duomo di Milano fan festival on Thursday in a special e-NV2000 and then to the San Siro stadium in a LEAF on Saturday, May 28th, the day of the match.

Nissan also sponsored the UEFA final last season, which took place in Berlin. There, Nissan installed charging ports and provided EVs at that event. According to Gareth Dunsmore, the Director of Electric Vehicles for Nissan Europe, the brand was excited to be able to do it again in Milan.

The 2016 Energy Conservation Center Award, awarded by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry, was awarded to Nissan in January for its NESCO (Nissan Energy Saving Collaboration) practices across the company.

This award has been given to many different companies, activities, and products that are dedicated to saving energy and raising awareness about it through advanced technology.

NESCO’s recent achievements include conducting audits to save energy at Nissan’s production sites, using an auditor training program that studies the way energy is used and finding ways it could be improved. NESCO opened a global training center in order to tackle energy issues on Nissan’s campuses worldwide, not just in Japan.

NESCO has seen enormous results since implementing these changes, including lowering Nissan’s gasoline use and cutting CO2 production. These improvements and changes like them lower the global use of CO2 by 58,000 tons per year. Nissan is now working with Renault to further lower CO2 emissions.

The Nissan LEAF is the best-selling all-electric vehicle on the planet, with almost 200,000 models sold since its launch in 2010. In the first five years of the Nissan LEAF, the world has seen immense changes in the way we think about electric vehicles. Now, at the start of 2016, electric power is more relevant and popular than ever, and no small part of that is thanks to the widespread excellence and popularity of the Nissan LEAF.

As stated, the Nissan LEAF hit American streets in December of 2010. The name LEAF stands for Leading Environmentally-friendly Affordable Family car; while it’s not the smoothest acronym, it sure does get the point across. Nissan’s research into battery electric power has been underway for a long while, but it first came to public attention at the Los Angeles International Auto Show in 1997 when Nissan released its all-electric Nissan Altra. Nissan had the technology to manufacture electric vehicles, but not the ability to do so in a way to make it affordable for the average consumer–until the Nissan LEAF.

In the five years of the Nissan LEAF, a lot has changed. The price of the LEAF’s lithium battery has dropped from $18,000 USD to about $300 USD per unit. Electric vehicles and charging stations have spread across the nation. The future is looking brighter–and cleaner! We can’t wait to see what Nissan will bring us in the next five years.

For an upcoming summit on climate change held in Paris, called the COP21 (Conference of Parties), Renault and Nissan have volunteered their services. Providing LEAF, ZOE, and e-NV200 electric and alternative fuel models as shuttles, the automakers give conference attendees the ability to get around while still being eco-friendly.

According to Nissan, over two hundred employees will promote Renault-Nissan’s leadership in electric vehicles at the COP21 Climate Change Summit in Paris. After completing a course on safe driving and EV technology, these employees are set to man 200 pure-electric vehicles.

“Helping negotiators get to their meetings, riding in quiet and smooth EVs that can be 100 percent recharged with renewable and extremely low-carbon electricity, sends a powerful message about our corporate commitment to the environment – and about our employees’ desire to be part of the solution to climate change,” said Marie-Francoise Damesin, Renault-Nissan’s global head of human resources.

Why is this important? Renault-Nissan seeks to demonstrate that electric and alternative energy are not radical ideas anymore. Electric vehicles can be practical, easy to use, and even fun. While areas like Paris have electric charge ports and electric rental vehicles, other countries have been slower to adopt such technologies.

There are a lot of reasons we use more fuel when it’s cold. It takes longer for cars to warm to their optimum temperature for fuel, for one. Plus, when we use heaters, seat warmers, and the defrost, it takes more energy, which uses up more fuel. Cold air also increases wind resistance, decreases tire pressure, and hurts your battery’s performance.

But there are plenty of easy things you can do to reverse some of these problems. Don’t warm up your car before you go somewhere—idling is the biggest waste of gas there is. If you have a garage, park inside it, so your car spends less time getting up to temperature. And check your tire pressure regularly! If they’re low, fill ‘em up.

Scoot has added 10 Nissan New Mobility Concept vehicles, also known as the Scoot Quad, to Scoot Networks’ fleet. The Scoot Quad is a fully electric two-seater that is ideal for urban city driving thanks to its low top speed and 40-mile driving range.

Nissan and Scoot officials have expressed their excitement at their compatibility with each other, citing their shared commitment to low emissions and to exploring the changing world of urban transportation. The Scoot Quad is the first four-wheel vehicle in Scoot’s fleet, which has previously only included mopeds and scooters. Scoot officials are glad to diversity their lineup.

For San Francisco residents, you can get access to a Scoot vehicle by downloading the Scoot app for iOS and Android. Rides are $8 per hour or $80 a day.

Recently, the Nissan brand—a major sponsor of the UEFA Champions League—revealed a new, exciting version of the e-NV200 at the League Final match. The special e-NV200, called the “PART e-VAN,” showed up to rock the Olympiastadion in Berlin. The awesome van is basically a Nissan’s mobile party van, with awesome disco capabilities and more.

The van comes with a disco ball solar panel array, which allows the van’s roof to absorb sunlight and turn it right into juice for the perfect party. The vehicle also comes with an augmented reality system—including two screens that allow you to project that augmented reality on the sides of the van. Basically, the augmented reality system allows you to jump into your favorite party scenario and then show it off to all your friends via social media.

The van also has a DJ booth, a cocktail mixer, an LED dance floor, and all kinds of other features. The electronic mobile party machine, after its debut in Berlin, will continue to scoot its way around Europe. It will show up next at the 24 Hour of Le Mans. “Nissan has time and again proven its commitment to electric cars, and as we electrify Berlin with the 100% electric e-NV200 here at the Olympiastadion – it’s the energy from our fans that inspires us to innovate,” said Bastien Schupp, Vice President of Marketing for Nissan Europe.

The award is the highest one given to top organizations that have shown commitment to doing what it takes to protect the environment by utilizing more energy efficient operations.

This is Nissan’s fourth year in a row earning the award.

In 2014, Nissan improved upon its operations by using a more efficient LED lighting, fixing compressed air leaks, and adopting a new, eco-friendly paint process that cuts energy use by 30%.

With these improvements, Nissan was able to cut back on energy used to build its vehicles by an overall 13% during 2014. That is enough energy to power over 5,400 homes for a year!

“Our commitment to the environment doesn’t stop with changes to our own operations, but we also go out in the community to help others identify ways to save energy,” said John Martin, Nissan’s senior vice president of Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management, and Purchasing.

“We work with schools in middle Tennessee and central Mississippi to help them reach their energy savings goals. Since this initiative began in 2012, we’ve helped about 30 schools make the esteemed ENERGY STAR certification list.”

Nissan will be recognized for its continuing efforts at an awards ceremony in Washington DC on April 20th, and we at Blackburn Nissan couldn’t be prouder.

There were already plenty of reasons to love the Nissan LEAF. After all, it’s not the world’s best-selling EV for nothing. But that didn’t stop Nissan from making a totally cool, glow-in-the-dark LEAF model either. In true LEAF fashion, too, the car glows thanks to a secret formula of all-organic materials.

Of course, these organic materials also make the car somewhat impractical from a mass-market standpoint—at least for right now. But, as a Nissan press release noted, if the technology is ever implemented, it will be both valuable and durable. “It contains a very rare natural earth product called Strontium Aluminate, which is solid, odorless, and chemically and biologically inert,” the press release stated. “Nissan’s unique paint, if made commercially available, would last for 25 years.”

We don’t know if we’ll ever see the Nissan LEAF glowing in the dark as a market vehicle, but we can always hope. It’s cool to see the brand offering such innovative technologies, yet finding ways to make those technologies as green as the car’s powertrain. Come see us at Blackburn Nissan to learn more about what Nissan has in store.